Video: Can You Be Arrested for a DWI If You Haven’t Been Drinking?

Can you be arrested for a DWI if you have not been drinking? The answer may surprise you. Criminal Defense Attorney Benson Varghese talks about DWI arrests with no alcohol in this video.

The definition for intoxication in Texas includes intoxicants such as alcohol, drugs, dangerous drugs and controlled substances — or any combination thereof. An officer might stop you for a traffic violation and observe some things that he can’t explain. For instance, if your speech is slurred, if you’re slow in reacting, or if you fumble with your wallet. Then, an officer may ask you to do field sobriety test to determine if you are intoxicated.

In a situation where you have not been drinking, but you might be or might appear to be intoxicated — based on the use of a prescription drug or a controlled substance —an officer can do those field sobriety tests and arrest you for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

The state will then most likely get blood evidence from you and determine what exactly is in your system. They will send that blood report to an expert, generally an expert at the Medical Examiner’s office, who will give an opinion as to whether or not the expert believes you’re intoxicated. Unlike alcohol cases where there is a point .08 standard, when you’re looking at drugs or dangerous drugs, there is no threshold amount. Instead, they’re going to use the quantity and your behavior — both your mental and physical faculties will be used against you to try to prove that you were intoxicated.